I’ve really been enjoying DIY Days all summer, and I’m glad that Kimba is continuing them through the fall. I do better with accountability. By knowing I have that Thursday deadline, and the expectation that I’ll be posting it on my blog, I am much more likely to get my house projects done. As a bonus, I’m having fun, feeling more creative, and making my home beautiful.
For over a year now, I’ve been reading Nesting Place and learning how to use creativity and frugality to decorate. The Nester’s motto is: It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. It’s a lesson for all of us. Once you embrace that message, you can do no wrong. It has inspired me to take risks in my home and with my own creativity, and I so appreciate it.
One of my favorites at Nesting Place is the section on Window Mistreatments. Just by arranging fabric, often with pins or hot glue, you can achieve amazing results, at a fraction of the cost of traditional window treaments. My living room has odd windows; they’re wide, they’re so high off the ground that the kids can’t see the deer in the back without standing precariously on something, and I’ve had trouble finding anything affordable to cover them. Once I saw Nester’s false roman shade, I knew that was the answer. I went looking for fabric and fell in love with this one; the blues and greens match the colors in my living room and the sand-colored walls. I like that it’s whimsical without looking childish. I ended up using a tension rod at the top because there wasn’t enough wall above the window to place tacks. I still want to re-do the pleats to make them more even (or I could ignore my perfectionist tendencies).
One question for all of you–should I add some trim to the bottom? Fringe seems too formal for this fabric, but I don’t want anything too playroom. Know what I mean?
For more DIY projects–from makeovers to crafts to recipes–go to A Soft Place to Land. For an explanation (and lots of examples) of Window Mistreatments, go to Nesting Place.
I would leave it as is. I love it! Look so clean and fresh! Great job!
You could try using cording for the edges. My local JoAnn's Fabric Store carries several different types of cording in various prices. You can get plain or with an edge, plain is just that the plain cord and with an edge has a little flap of fabric attached to the cord where you could sew or hot glue it to fabric.
I used cording to trim out the edges of my bedroom walls. I have a vaulted, white ceiling & dark walls, getting a perfect straight edge is impossible since our walls (as our most peoples) are not flush. I couldn't use crown molding because of the vault so I decided to use cording that would match the cording around our throw pillows. Once armed with my $32 cording (16×13 room), a ladder and my hot glue gun the work was done in less than an hour.
I have seen cording with little designs all in a row like the ones in your fabric. Good luck!
I say leave them with out trim – at least for a while – and see how you like it. If you do decide to put something I would keep it very simple, the thing that should shine is the pattern in the fabric.
You would not want to do anything to distract from that.
Gina,
Your roman blind looks great. I love the color. I think it looks good without any edging but you could always add something later if you still felt it needed anything. I am amazed that you are able to get all this stuff done with sick people in the house. Well done!
Looks great! I am wanting to do something like this is in my school room/dining room.
I love the nesting place but I haven't been brave enough to try any mistreatments of my own. I think you've inspired me to finally do something on my bare kitchen window! I like it the way it is. Clean and simple. Great job!
I think they look great!~ I want to try these as well but haven't yet!
You could use some grow grain ribbon as trim. Its simple and would just add a nice trim with out being too formal or too kiddy… It looks nice.